Long Division Festival

Polly Checkland Harding

Book now

Long Division Festival

25 September 2021

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Long Division Festival
Image courtesy of Long Division.
Book now

Long Division Festival was created at a time when there were no gig venues in Wakefield with a capacity over 150 people. This award-winning, metropolitan music festival was started in 2011, with Festival Director Dean Freeman cashing in his NHS pension to fund the project, despite the fact that Wakefield’s music scene was largely overlooked by the national press. The festival’s aim was to redress this by celebrating local talent, as well as drawing touring acts that rarely visited the city to the lineup. For the first two years Long Division Festival was partnered by Ossett Brewery – an independent Yorkshire brewery and Taproom in Yorkshire – holding shows in abandoned libraries, Wild West-themed nightclubs and other, overlooked corners of Wakefield.

Dubbed ‘one of the best independent arts festivals in Europe’ by Under the Radar magazine, Long Division Festival has since expanded to take place across Wakefield’s entire city centre, with past headliners including British Sea Power, The Fall and We Are Scientists. The festival still places grassroots artists alongside the great indie and DIY artists and bands of the day, hosting acts that would never previously have played in the city. Some of Wakefield’s best cultural landmarks are involved as participating venues, including visual arts charity The Art House and the Grade II listed Theatre Royal Wakefield – which is the smallest surviving theatre auditorium designed by legendary architect Frank Matcham. Acts have also taken the stage at unique real ale house The Hop and state of the art, 850 capacity live music and entertainment venue Warehouse23, among many, many more.

Long Division became a Community Interest Company in 2017, focusing on pioneering new projects that promote collaboration alongside artist-audience development. These include the #YoungTeam project, which received national coverage in the Guardian: this part-time five-month course aimed at 16 and 17 year-olds is designed to develop creative talent and cultural interest in young people. The core offer is enhanced with visits to The Hepworth, Wakefield’s incredible art museum and winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017, Wakefield Jazz and the Rhubarb Festival  – the city’s annual tribute to rhubarb, with special events, a traditional food and drink market, exhibitions, workshops and more. As a company and a music festival, Long Division continues to contribute to Wakefield’s cultural regeneration.

Where to go near Long Division Festival

Penistone Hill Country Park
Bradford
Park
Penistone Hill Country Park

As part of Bradford 2025’s UK City of Culture programme, Penistone Hill plays host to outdoor events that celebrate the enduring connection between landscape, identity and creativity.

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds. Exhibitions are open for all to view. Encounter sculpture on your daily walk, or way to work or school.
Leeds
Event venue
Threshold Leeds

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds.

The Engine Room Notice Board
Southport
Event venue
The Engine Room

The Engine Room is a creative community hub in Southport’s Wayfarers Arcade, offering co-working space, cultural events and collaborative opportunities for artists, freelancers and educators.

Leeds
Gallery
The Mill Gallery

The Mill Gallery is an artist-run space in Leeds, supporting emerging artists to develop and showcase their work authentically.

Church congregation at St George's Church in Leeds
Leeds
Place of worship
St George’s Church

St George’s is a lively city centre church in Leeds with three services every Sunday and a midweek programme that includes groups, courses and events. We’re here to help people

Picante
Liverpool
Restaurant
Picante

Picante is a sun-soaked Mexican restaurant at the trailblazing Cains Brewery Village in Liverpool.

Miru Mill
Manchester
Event venue
Miru Mill

Miru Mill is an event space and micro-factory based at Churchgate Mill in Stockport.

Spa
iglu sauna

An authentic and affordable sauna and cold plunge experience in Hebden Bridge, in a beautiful outdoor setting amongst the trees.

What's on: Music

Rina Srabonian.
Until
MusicCity Centre
manchester jazz festival 2025

manchester jazz festival is back this May with 10 days of live music from some of the best northern, national and international musicians operating in the world of contemporary jazz.

0-£30
Sextile
MusicManchester
Sextile at The White Hotel

From sunny Los Angeles to deepest darkest Salford, electronic punk duo Sextile head to their spiritual home of The White Hotel.

From £16.00

Culture Guides

Music in the North

Gigs are coming in hot this spring – from long-awaited returns to one-off happenings you’ll blink and miss if you're not careful.

Hannah Platt 'Playing Out', courtesy of Threshold, photograph by Jules Lister.
Exhibitions in the North

From city-wide art festivals to open-air sculptural installations, we have exhibitions from all around the North, both indoors and out.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Eclectic as ever. You'll find inventive reworkings, world-class contemporary dance and Greater Manchester's inaugural Improv Festival in our guide.

portrait of Lorsung in a dark shirt with dark hair and dark round glasses
Literature Events in the North

We've got laughs and we've got leftfield on the live literature radar this month. Something for everyone, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.

Classical Music in the North

Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.